Masculine God Imagery and Sense of Life Purpose: Examining Contingencies with America's “Four Gods”
Though God imagery has been extensively studied within sociological and psychological traditions, much less attention has been paid to gendered God concepts and their connections to well-being. Previous work has suggested that God images may reflect ontological assumptions that inform interpretation...
| Main Author: | |
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| Contributors: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 2024, Volume: 63, Issue: 1, Pages: 76-102 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Idea of God
/ Masculinity
/ Meaning of life
/ Sex difference
/ Geschichte 2007
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AE Psychology of religion KBQ North America NBC Doctrine of God NCF Sexual ethics TK Recent history |
| Further subjects: | B
masculine God imagery
B God Image B life purpose B Gender |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Though God imagery has been extensively studied within sociological and psychological traditions, much less attention has been paid to gendered God concepts and their connections to well-being. Previous work has suggested that God images may reflect ontological assumptions that inform interpretations of the world as well as one's place within it. We argue that the relationship between masculine God imagery and a sense of life purpose may vary by gender and depend on further contingencies of other God images held by individuals’ images of God as engaged, angry, critical, and distant. Drawing on nationally representative data from the 2007 Baylor Religion Survey (n = 415 men and n = 577 women), our results suggest that stronger masculine God imagery was associated with greater life purpose for men, and lower life purpose for women. We also observed that stronger beliefs in an engaged God appeared to weaken the association between masculine God imagery and lower life purpose for women, while men who did not support masculine gender ideology reported lower life purpose if they endorsed stronger beliefs in an angry or critical God. We interpret our results by drawing on research at the intersection of gender, religion, and theology, and suggest several directions for future work. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12881 |